Journey (6)
The merchant had hired three more adventurers besides us. Whenever the adventurers joined up, he would call the others over and introduce them. There were quite a few people, come to think of it. The twelve laborers the merchant had brought, plus the merchant himself as employer, an accountant, a manager, and three coachmen, brought the total to twenty-four people traveling together.
The merchant owned three carriages. Meaning we were supposed to escort those three carriages?
The carriages themselves were fairly large, each drawn by a pair of horses. The draft horses were nothing like the ones I knew—massive beasts that gave off a solid, heavy impression rather than a sleek one. I was also curious about the cargo loaded onto them. I wanted to ask, but held my tongue for now. Escorting them long enough would probably get someone to tell me eventually.
Once preparations were finished, the merchant began assigning positions. The arrangement went like this:
The merchant rode in the lead carriage with a coachman, the accountant took the middle one, and the manager the last, each with their own driver. The laborers split four to a carriage, two on either side. One adventurer was posted beside each carriage. The young master and I were placed at the front, while Sis took the rear.
“Is this really a good formation…?”
Personally, I thought it would be better to keep our stronger fighters in the center so we could reinforce whichever side ran into trouble.
“Well, as long as nothing hits us from the flanks, it should be fine.”
“Is that so?”
The young master seemed to think the arrangement was solid. He knew more about these things than I did, so he was probably right.
Once everyone was in place, the caravan set out. I kept my mouth shut and walked quietly beside the carriage. The young master stayed quiet at first too, but eventually grew bored and started explaining the formation we had discussed earlier.
“The carriages are large, but not that large.”
“Is that so?”
Even lined up one after another, the three carriages didn’t stretch fifty meters. That made it hard for bandits to hit from the side, loot the goods, and escape cleanly… And putting us up front, he murmured, was almost certainly the merchant’s way of protecting his own neck.
True enough… if bandits showed up, the front would be the most dangerous place.
Apparently our conversation had carried. The merchant suddenly spoke up.
“Having a mage along certainly puts my mind at ease.”
I froze for a second. He wasn’t about to say something awkward, was he?
“Ah… yes…….”
Fortunately, that was all. There was a reason the merchant looked so pleased. Before we left, I had set alarm magic along the sides of the carriages.
While installing it, I told the laborers that if anything urgent happened they should just touch those spots. A powerful alarm would sound and alert everyone. They had been delighted, and for good reason.
According to the young master, if bandits or monsters attacked, the laborers had the highest chance of dying. They lacked an adventurer’s skill and often ended up as meat shields…
But with the alarm magic I had set, they could raise the alert faster, which improved their odds of survival…
“Oh dear, if I’ve made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”
“N-no….”
I was just feeling the weight of the attention.
“By the way, what are you selling?”
The young master asked the merchant with easy familiarity. Honestly, I was curious too. Paying top coin to hire us meant the cargo was worth that much.
If the goods had been of uncertain value and the profits thin, he would have hired ordinary adventurers instead of expensive ones like us.
“Haha, nothing special.”
His mouth said one thing; his eyes said another. The look of a man who had calculated everything down to the last copper.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Just paper and white cloth.”
“Paper, I see….”
Paper? Cloth? Did those actually make money? I had no commercial knowledge, so I couldn’t tell whether they were profitable. Books were expensive, so maybe paper was too?
“Does paper really sell?”
“Of course. Do you know how many books the Church prints every year?”
That made a little more sense. A Church that valued knowledge would churn out new books constantly. With printing magic available, mass production wasn’t difficult either…
“I see.”
“Paper takes up little space. Even three carriage-loads amount to a considerable volume.”
Ah! That was it. More carriages and bulkier goods weren’t always better. Processed goods like paper were light and compact, so a few carriages could still carry a huge quantity.
“And high-quality paper is in demand everywhere.”
The cloth, he explained, was used for priests’ ceremonial robes, so demand stayed high.
“I see. There’s more to a caravan than I thought.”
Paper was made from wood, after all. Considering weight and bulk, hauling raw timber into a city to process it was inefficient. So they turned the wood into paper right where it was felled and sold it that way.
I found myself nodding. Even large amounts of paper were heavy, but they still took up far less space than whole logs and were easier to transport.
The merchant cheerfully explained the basics of caravan trade.
It was interesting at first, but as the talk dragged on I started listening with only half an ear.
Traveling by carriage took longer than expected. After about two hours we had to rest the horses, and the laborers walking with us needed breaks as well.
Looking at the cargo volume, it seemed like we didn’t need this many laborers… though I supposed they doubled as extra guards, so it wasn’t completely unreasonable…
“Yuli.”
“Sis? You worked hard.”
“Mm.”
I greeted Sis, who had been trailing alone at the rear. It must have been boring back there.
“Wasn’t it lonely by yourself?”
“It’s comfortable.”
Ah… so that was more comfortable for her.
“W-well, be careful.”
“I know.”
After about twenty minutes of rest we moved out again. The horses had drunk water and cropped some grass, and they looked much better for it.
But… if I used Holy Magic to restore them, couldn’t we travel even faster?
My Holy Power was overflowing anyway…
Then again, shortening the journey would mean less pay. Hmm. Unless something went wrong, there was no need to go out of my way.
Four days passed like that. Standing night watch every time we camped was a bit of a nuisance, but at least we ate well. The laborers handled everything—beds, meals—so it was genuinely comfortable.
“Phew, dinner was good again tonight.”
No meat, but decent bread and a spiced soup that left me feeling solidly full.
“Mage, you’ll take first watch tonight.”
“Yes, don’t worry about it.”
Once the watch order was set, everyone except me settled down to sleep. I stared blankly up at the dark night sky.
“Not exactly quiet….”
With so many men around, the snoring kept things from being peaceful.
Still, the atmosphere was there. The crackle of the campfire, the brilliant moon and faintly glowing stars, the dense trees all around…
In the modern world you only got this kind of feeling if you went camping. Here it was an everyday sight. So it didn’t exactly move me…
“Still nice, though.”
Even just sitting there blankly wasn’t boring.
“Is that so?”
“Eek!”
A sudden voice right beside me made me jump.
“W-weren’t you asleep?”
The one who had spoken was the young master.
“I have to get up next anyway.”
Ah… he was next on watch. Fair enough—it was an awkward time to fall asleep.
“Are you enjoying the journey?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s already been more than two weeks since we left the city.”
“I… suppose so?”
“Have you been having a good time?”
Uh… with travel as the main goal, I hadn’t really enjoyed much of anything. Originally I had planned to wander around collecting alchemy materials and, if time allowed, try some alchemy itself…
I hadn’t done a single bit of it.
“Ah… I’ve been so busy I never got around to enjoying things that way.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I originally wanted to roam around gathering interesting plants and materials.”
“Haha. Hard to do that while on escort duty.”
I couldn’t exactly goof off mid-escort. One person might not matter much, but to the client it would look like I was slacking.
“Well, I can always do it later when I have more free time.”
Thanks to the young master, at least the thought had come back to me.
But once we reached the Church’s main temple, free time would dry up for a while. Annoying as it was, it was the main temple. The moment I set foot there, someone was bound to notice my Holy Power. Better to report myself voluntarily.
Thinking about that… yeah, going to the Capital was out of the question…
I might even have to part ways with the young master there. Of all the escort jobs we could have taken, why did the destination have to be that place?
But it was already decided. Nothing to be done about it.
“Something on your mind?”
When I fell quiet, the young master spoke up.
“Young Master, what do you think you’d do if your status suddenly changed?”
“My status?”
Ah, right—he was a noble. I’d almost forgotten after seeing how casual he could be lately.
“Yes. Suppose you suddenly became part of a count’s house, or a prince, or even an emperor?”
“My lady, an emperor is a bit much….”
He spoke carefully.
“What’s the harm?”
“Ahem. In any case, you’re talking about a sudden rise in status?”
“Yes. How do you think you’d feel?”
“Well… if it were just a higher title, it probably wouldn’t feel like much.”
True—he was already a noble, even if at the lowest rank, so he could feel that way.
“Becoming a prince, though, sounds dreadful.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Do you know how many responsibilities a prince carries?”
As heir to a barony he had already had to learn a great deal, he said, but a prince had to learn several times more. And if his talent fell short, he could be purged.
“Purged?!”
“Yes. Bloodlines are taken very seriously.”
If you left a mediocre royal alive and a later child turned out brilliantly gifted, the one who had already inherited the throne would feel threatened. So sometimes brothers were purged…
“That’s terrifying.”
“But why bring up status all of a sudden?”
“Just wondering….”
It wasn’t time to tell the truth yet. We traded idle talk until the watch change came.
Since the young master was already awake for the next shift, I handed things over lightly.
“Well then, I’m going to sleep.”
“Yes. Don’t worry….”
I slipped under the blanket beside Sis. Being small really helped at times like this.
It was later than I usually went to bed, so the moment I closed my eyes I was out.
The journey I had forced myself into at her side had begun poorly. She and her older sister had all but ignored me. Even so, I had no intention of backing down.
I approached them with as much friendliness as I could muster, and in the end I managed to grow reasonably close.
Along the way I experienced any number of things—the real lives of common folk, nothing like the sanitized version I had learned from books and tutors…
When I eventually inherited the title and governed a territory, I would have to pay closer attention, I decided.
After ten days her wariness had almost vanished, and I could finally speak with her at ease. Of course, there had been one rather embarrassing incident…
Just recalling it sent blood rushing to both my lower body and my face. I had known she was small and thin. But beneath her clothes her body had been even more slender than I expected.
Worry mixed with a sense of beauty. That lean frame was smooth, unblemished, and held elegant curves. And the modest swell of her chest made it unmistakably clear she was a woman. Yes—exactly like a beautifully carved statue.
“Ahem.”
Remembering the sight again left me a little flustered.
Still, the conversation just now had been enjoyable. Trivial talk, her stories, her inner thoughts—things I had never heard before, I could hear them now.
That she had wanted to gather plants and materials, how much she cared for her older sister…
And status……
“Why did she bring that up?”
The sudden question about how I would feel if my status rose. At first I had answered without thinking. She hadn’t looked entirely satisfied… but the reaction hadn’t been bad either.
Why ask out of nowhere? What had she been aiming for? What had she wanted to say?
Had there been some other meaning behind it?
Could it… be because of me?
Her status was that of a commoner. Yes, a commoner.
If she married me? She would become a baron’s wife. Her status would rise from commoner to noble.
Was that why she was curious about status?
Then… was she taking our relationship seriously?
Was I allowed to hope?
Suddenly my younger brother’s words came back to me.
That I had been wrong. That I should have confessed long ago.
“A confession, is it….”
Right. I couldn’t afford another mistake this time. So I would have to… confess?